Lagos Landlords Vow To Sue State Govt Over Demolition of N2bn Property

The owners of demolished properties at the Lagoon View Estate, Ibeshe, Igbogbo- Bayeku Local Council Development Area, Ikorodu have concluded plans to drag Lagos State Government, the Attorney General of the state and some other land grabbers to court.

This was disclosed by Mr. Victor Armstrong, one of the affected residents of the estate yesterday while speaking to newsmen.

Armstrong revealed that his demolished property valued over N100 million, adding that the entire worth of properties pulled down in the estate were worth over N2 billion.

“We have decided to seek redress in the court of law after we reported the mater to Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and wrote a petition to Lagos State Governor Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode and thereafter led a protest to his office without getting any response.

“Apart from writing petition to the Governor, the property owners also wrote a petition to the state’s Attorney General, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem and also sought government intervention on the issue at the Citizens Mediation Center before they were told to hands off the matter based on instruction from above.

He alleged that one Mr. Fouad Oki masterminded the demolition of the buildings in the estate, claiming that the Oki had boasted that he is untouchable and above the law.

He added that the turn -out of events ever since they were rendered homeless seem to give credence to the fact that the demolition was ill-planned.

“Our problem started when Fouad Oki conspired with the then Commissioner of Physical Planning and Urban Development Mr. Wasiu Anifowoshe to demolish our houses and took over our lands. Oki said he owned the land and came over night to chase us away from the property we have lived in for years.

“When they did the first thing we did was to go to the ministry to complain to them but they refused to talk to us. We contacted a lawyer and wrote a petition to Lagos State Governor Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode and copied Attorney General of the state. We also wrote a letter to the police commissioner and state House of Assembly.

“Unfortunately Governor Ambode did nothing on the issue and never responded to the letters and when we led a protest to his office no one attended to us and we have been suffering” .

The owners of demolished properties at the Lagoon View Estate, Ibeshe, Igbogbo- Bayeku Local Council Development Area, Ikorodu have concluded plans to drag Lagos State Government, the Attorney General of the state and some other land grabbers to court.
This was disclosed by Mr. Victor Armstrong, one of the affected...